Crabtree & Evelyn are a brand which silently but proudly portray luxurious British heritage. The brand stemmed from a family run business that made home-made soaps with an international themes which has since grown into a huge international company which is known for quality toiletries and they have stemmed into fragrances and even food. Crabtree & Evelyn are the ultimate hipster company as they made “natural” cool before “natural” was the in thing to do. Working in harmony with nature their products are inspired from a time when the garden played an important role in daily life and they use plant, fruit and flower essences for natural fragances and soothing solutions for the skin.

From two of the recent #BWB or Bloggers Who Bless Cape Town meets – we have been totally spoilt with their wonderful handcreams. The one I’ve been using on my paws is the Iris Hand Therapy. Firstly, it is small enough to carry around in your handbag, they certainly pack a punch in these harsh winter months. They touch your skin and are absorbed leaving you with wonderfully smooth and soft hands that have no left over residue or greasiness. A real winter-must have. On top of this they leave your hands smelling absolutely gorgeous and long after use they leave a very faint scent of beautiful iris. These hand creams are award-winning and its not hard to see why. They certainly win my vote for best winter handcream for 2014 that I’ve used so far ;) Have a look at the entire handcream range over here at their website.

For 50g this product retails at R180 but you use such a little product it can last you for ages so, its well worth the investment!

Crabtree & Evelyn are not only an easy solution for a gift for the special ladies in your life as their products will happily work in harmony with everyone, they are a healthy and smart choice for daily use.

What is your favourite Crabtree & Evelyn product?

Don’t forget to visit Crabtree & Evelyn’s website, like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @Crabtree_SA

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Blendbox is a range of body products which are blended with a selection of essential oils with grape seed, sweet almond oil and apricot kernel oils. Miemie is the lady behind the name and has been blending essentials for over 16 years. 

I have two products from her Firm range – the butter I won and was given the scrub at a Bloggers Who Bless (http://bloggerswhobless.blogspot.com/) meet. 

I don’t usually blog about beauty products, but this product is worth sharing, especially if you are post-baby like me and need some firming up.  Since I’m no beauty blogger, I did a bit of research about body butters, so now feeling a little more in the know. Body butter is excellent for moisturising as it’s basically a super concentrated lotion. It is thicker than lotions and so comes in tubs as it’s too thick to go through a spurt bottle. They are often made with fewer all natural ingredients and so have fewer potential allergens and irritants (something I’m more aware of now Ethan has eczema).

The Firm Body Butter is ultra thick and you can just feel that this cream is going to do wonders for your skin. It spreads easily and is absorbed into the skin but I’m still left feeling moisturised. I don’t put it on my whole body but focus on my stomach, hips and thighs. The Firm Body Scrub dissolves as your rub it on your skin and massaging in circular motions helps to increase blood circulation and cellulite elimination. They are both made with a blend of essential oils which tone, firm and detoxify the lymphatic system and assist in eliminating cellulite. The moisturising ingredients are a blend of shea, cocoa and avocado butters - all the good stuff for your body.  

Blendbox also have a Hatchling range for pregnant moms, a Soft, Pure and Calm range. Find Miemie on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/Blendbox) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/BlendboxSA) to find out more about her products.

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The Victorian Garden, a South African, organic skin care company, recently re-launched their hair masks and I was fortunate to receive one to try out. After going very blonde last year, which I must admit I have loved, my hair is soooo dry! This is probably largely because I heat style my hair – usually everyday, naughty I know. This is a habit I am trying hard to break!



I have been testing quite a few different hair masks and treatments and was keen to try out The Victorian Garden Hair Mask. I am currently using their Mango and Vanilla Exfoliating Salt Body Scrub, which I love.
There are two hair masks in The Victorian Garden range: a Rosemary & Jojoba Hair Masque, with Peppermint and a Cocoa & Mafura Butter Hair Masque, with Orange & Rosemary.



I received the Rosemary & Jojoba Hair Masque, with Peppermint to review. The mask is recommended as an extra nourishing treatment for dry or damaged hair, to help repair, moisturise and protect the hair shaft for smoother, shinier hair with less frizz. The formula combines Jojoba wax, Shea Butter and Avocado to deeply penetrate the hair and plant proteins to build strength and manageability. Rosemary and Lime essential oils assist in root health, soothing a dry and itchy scalp, while revitalising Peppermint balances pH and promotes hair growth.

I must admit I am always hesitant when trying new hair care products, as many of them leave my super fine hair unmanageable but I was keen to see if this masque could work its magic on my hair!
You do need a bit of time when using a hair mask – so for me the evenings or weekend mornings work best. The mask has a pleasant botanical fragrance, which smells quite strongly of rosemary but I did not find the smell lingered in my hair after rinsing. To use, apply the mask after shampooing from mid-lengths to ends of hair. You do need to leave it on for 5-10 minutes and then rinse well.

Tip: For a deep treatment, apply mask to damp hair and wrap head in a towel for 20 minutes or overnight. Rinse well after use.

I was initially quite surprised after rinsing my hair,as it felt quite dry and not as silky smooth as it has using other masks or treatments. After combing through and applying my everyday heat protection and styling products to my hair, I dried it as per normal. My hair was definitely easier to manage when styling it and not as “fly-away” as it usually is. My initial reaction was completely forgotten because my hair looked awesome – it had much more body and a great healthy shine to it. I was even asked later that day, whether I had gone to the hair dresser because my hair looked so amazing
Needless to say this product is a winner – well for me anyway! I recommend that you give it a try, especially if you have dry, over-processed hair.
To find out more about these and other products please visit The Victorian Garden website.

**All Images are Copyrighted to Fiona Rossiter

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The Victorian Garden is a local company who specialises in creating organic hand crafted products using old Victorian recipes to make luscious lotions and potions, whilst deeply caring for the environment, animal welfare, the community and ‘the damage being done to our bodies and our planet by all the chemicals used in today's skincare products’. This company is passionate about creating quality products that are affordable.

Do yourself a favour and go read The Victorian Garden History. Now I want to spoil all the ladies in my life with these special products.

I love hair masks. Problem is, most affordable ones feel as though they do pretty much the same as a normal conditioner. So it doesn’t happen often that I would repurchase one – it really needs to impress me.

The Rosemary & Jojoba Hair Masque with Peppermint by The Victorian Garden will be bought as soon as the current one nears the end.

I received this masque at our first #BloggersWhoBless event and I was quite excited to try something by The Victorian Garden.

This masque has been designed to care for hair that is dry, damaged and/or chemically treated. Jojoba wax, Shea Butter, Avocado, Rosemary and Lime essential oils and Peppermint work together to strengthen, moisturise, repair, protect and sooth the hair and scalp.

The masque is thick and smells lovely. My hair feels soft and nourished after use and the peppermint gives your scalp a lovely tingle.

The point of this post is actually to tell you about what this product has done for Cara’s hair. I’ve been using it to condition her hair every day over the past week. I have to wash her hair every day as she goes to a play school and her favourite place to play is the sandpit. She has blonde curly hair that has always been very dry. I struggle to find shampoo that doesn’t feel like it’s stripping her hair, so a good conditioner is a must. Also, my little girl looks like she wants to sport dreadlocks in the mornings. You don’t want to know what that ‘bossiekop’ looks like when she wakes up! To sum up, naturally dry hair that takes a beating from daily washing and knots that I sometimes want to take a pair of scissors to. This masque has transformed her hair from ‘crunchy’ to smooth. It doesn’t take quiet as long to detangle and her hair is smooth and shiny and the curls form beautifully. Her hair looks healthy. Winning!

I am really impressed with this product (that is so affordable at ZAR95) and can’t wait to try more from VG.

You can shop HERE.

xoxo

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